Industry group, 5122
Sound Recording Industries
19,860 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $97,560 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 9 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 65%
- 19%
- 16%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 17% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 18%. Today's estimate: 24%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 92% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General and Operations Managers | 1,850 | 23% | 877,350 | $106K |
| Producers and Directors | 1,570 | 23% | 760,890 | $93K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 440 | 78% | 710,196 | $59K |
| Office Clerks, General | 490 | 54% | 553,426 | $49K |
| Sound Engineering Technicians | 2,620 | 10% | 534,067 | $58K |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 570 | 43% | 509,810 | $70K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 530 | 43% | 469,624 | $47K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 290 | 64% | 388,461 | $58K |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 270 | 63% | 356,055 | $56K |
| Audio and Video Technicians | 530 | 25% | 274,499 | $48K |
| Sales Managers | 410 | 28% | 238,785 | $134K |
| Editors | 220 | 46% | 210,954 | $67K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 24 smaller jobs (1,450 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 92% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Separate instruments, vocals, and other sounds, and combine sounds during the mixing or postproduction stage.Sound Engineering Technicians969,874 hours99% of the task within reach
- Synchronize and equalize prerecorded dialogue, music, and sound effects with visual action of motion pictures or television productions, using control consoles.Sound Engineering Technicians808,605 hours100% of the task within reach
- Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists695,119 hours90% of the task within reach
- Gather data on competitors and analyze their prices, sales, and method of marketing and distribution.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists302,799 hours98% of the task within reach
- Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.Marketing Managers283,537 hours72% of the task within reach
- Cut and edit film or tape to integrate component parts into desired sequences.Producers and Directors272,453 hours96% of the task within reach
- Compose and edit scripts or provide screenwriters with story outlines from which scripts can be written.Producers and Directors261,560 hours86% of the task within reach
- Devise and evaluate methods and procedures for collecting data, such as surveys, opinion polls, or questionnaires, or arrange to obtain existing data.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists246,710 hours96% of the task within reach
- Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel243,478 hours100% of the task within reach
- Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.General and Operations Managers236,559 hours40% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works